


What Skater Boy through Yonder Window Breaks

by DrearyBanana



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Making Up, Post EP9
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 18:28:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30093297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrearyBanana/pseuds/DrearyBanana
Summary: After his revelation at the S track Langa races to Reki's house to try and repair their relationship.Another post Episode 9 renga reunion and bonus feeling realization. Just couldn't stop turning it around in my mind so now you have to look at it too. Sorry about the title, it was so dumb it made me laugh and I had to use it.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki
Comments: 7
Kudos: 128





	What Skater Boy through Yonder Window Breaks

Langa pulled the scooter up to the ramp under Reki’s window. It was closed now, which meant Reki had come back from S.

He parked, killed the engine, tried to unbuckle his helmet while swinging his leg over the seat, caught his ankle stumbled, barely managing to keep himself upright as he hurried to the ramp.

Using the scaffolding on the underside of the ramp he pulled himself up until his face was level with the window. Langa raised his fist to knock, but then before he could the window slid open in front of him.

The streetlight cast a sallow glow over Reki’s face, washing out his bronze skin and highlighting the bags under his eyes. He had changed out of the clothes he had been wearing at S, and now was wearing a ratty T-shirt Langa recognized as one he usually slept in. He looked exhausted.

“What do you want, Langa.”

Langa swallowed. He sounded exhausted too. So different from the exuberant person Langa was used to.

“I want to talk?”

“I want to sleep. Can it wait?” Reki still had his hand on the window, ready to slide it closed at a moment's notice.

Technically, it could wait. There wasn’t anything Langa had to say that wouldn’t still be true tomorrow morning, but he didn’t want to put this off. The revelations from the S track still felt fresh in his mind, and he didn’t want to risk time dulling the clarity of what he wanted to say.

“Not really. Can I come in?”

Reki was quiet for what felt like an eternity, but finally, he stepped back, leaving enough room for Langa to scramble through the window and onto Reki’s desk, where he sat cross-legged.

Reki slouched into his desk chair, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked at Langa, obviously waiting.

OK, now what? Langa was no good at this. Maybe if he was they wouldn’t be sitting here in the first place. Maybe he would have known what to say that night in the rain when it had all gone wrong. Maybe he wouldn’t have fucked up everything so bad.

“Well?”

Langa realized he’d been sitting in silence, staring at Reki for almost a minute, and he scrambled for something, anything to start with. “My board broke.”

That was the wrong thing to say. Reki’s face twisted, whether in anger or sadness Langa wasn’t sure, and he jerked to his feet, grabbing the front of Langa’s shirt and shoving him back towards the window. 

“ _ That’s  _ what you want? What you came here for in the middle of the night? To fix the stupid board? To race in the tournament I didn’t want you to enter?”

“No! No- that’s not it! I just-” Lang threw his arms out to brace himself against the window frame and prevent himself from being shoved back down the ramp.

“You know what? I know it’s all I’m ever going to be good for, fixing your board, tightening your bearings, standing in the crowd while you skate with ADAM, but you could at least wait till morning to make that clear.”

“I don’t think that! This isn’t about the board, not really! Reki, please, hear me out,” Reki kept trying to push him through the window, still breathing heavily, hands twisted in Langa’s button-down.

“Then what? What did you come here for?”

“I like you!” Reki froze. Langa was hanging half out the window, one hand curled around the frame, the other elbow braced against the window, trying not to roll backward down the ramp.

“Huh?” his hands were still twisted in Langa’s shirt, but his face was frozen in shock.

“I like you.” 

Reki still didn’t move, his face scrunched in the same way as when he tried to do his math homework. Langa wanted to give him time to process, but his fingers were getting sore and he was already going to have a bruise on his elbow.

“You mean, like a friend?”

“No. I mean, yes, that too, but I meant it in more of a boyfriend way.”

Langa’s fingers were starting to shake, and the fabric of his shirt was slipping against the window frame, and he really didn’t want to end his climatic confession scene by tumbling ass-backward out a window.

“Can I come back in? There are other things I want to say.”

Reki stepped back, almost automatically, and sat heavily back in his office chair, still looking stunned. Langa pulled himself back onto the desk, rubbing his elbow.

“Um, so, you like me.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

“Like, you  _ like _ like me.”

“Yes.”

“In a boyfriend way.”

“Yeah. But that’s not really important right now.”

Reki finally stopped looking completely shocked for long enough to look exasperated.

“How is that not important? Isn’t that what you came here to say?”

“It was part of it, but I mostly wanted to talk about what happened tonight. I’ve liked you for, like, weeks so it’s not new.”

“ _ Weeks? _ ” it was almost a shout, and they both froze to listen for sounds from the rest of the house. After a minute of quiet, they both let out a breath of relief.

“Yeah, but I really need to apologize. About the tournament.”

That snapped Reki out of whatever haze he had been in. He looked back up at Langa, mouth pinching into a frown. 

“Apologize for what? You’re winning, aren't you? Isn’t that what you wanted?”

Langa sighed, rubbing his chest. This was the hard part. He still wasn’t totally sure how to say what he needed to say.

“I shouldn’t have entered after you asked me not to. I just didn’t want to lose that feeling, then it was gone anyway and I didn’t know what to do, but when you showed up it was back, so I think maybe it was you that I really wanted.”

Reki blinked at him. “I think this might be a situation where you aren’t talking enough because that made almost no sense to me.”

Dammit. Langa rubbed his temples. It was all in his head, the feelings swirling around and so clear to him, but when he tried to turn them into words it all got so mixed up and confused.

“Listen, Langa, just start at the beginning, OK?” Reki leaned forward, looking slightly less angry and a little concerned. The soft blue light of the moon was illuminating his face in a strip, the contrast highlighting his long lashes and amber eyes.

Langa licked his lips. The beginning. He could do that. “I guess, the beginning is… do you remember when I told you I stopped snowboarding?”

Reki nodded. “You said you stopped after your dad died, right?”

Langa jerked his head in confirmation. “I always went with him. He taught me… he was a pro, you know. Halfpipe and Slopestyle, he went to the Olympics, even. No medals, but still.” He hadn’t talked about this in so long. It was strange, he had gotten so used to dodging any kind of conversation about his dad, with his mom, with relatives, even with Reki the few times he had asked, but now he wanted Reki to know. To understand.

“It was… fun? Important? I mean, it felt like the only thing I was alive for, sometimes. Like all that mattered was the next time I could snowboard, and everything else was just marking time in between. We were going almost every day sometimes, always the two of us.

Then, dad died. And suddenly it all… changed. Like, I would do the same things, the same tricks and runs, try new things, fail or succeed, but it didn’t matter. There was just… nothing. Just empty, it wasn’t fun, or frustrating, or just… anything. That was why I stopped. It was my whole life and then it just... disappeared.”

He saw Reki move out of the corner of his eye, reaching out to his left hand that was fisted on his knee, gently laying his open palm over it. At his touch, Langa realized he was squeezing so tight his nails were digging into the soft part of his palm.

Carefully, he opened his hand, turning it face up, so his palm was pressed against Reki’s, who took the chance to tangle their fingers together and giving Langa’s hand a soft squeeze.

Langa took a deep, shaky, breath and swallowed the knot in his throat.

“I, th-thanks. So, yeah, I mean, that’s why I was fine with moving here. In fact, I hoped it would be easier without the mountains and snow to remind me… and it kind of was? But then, I met you, and we went to S that night and I raced Shadow and it came back. The feelings, not the same, but close enough. Closer than I ever got in Canada.

So I wanted to keep going, and it was fun again, skating, learning to Ollie, everything I was doing with you. I wanted to keep that feeling, no matter what, and beefs were so… intense?... I guess that’s the word for it. So I accepted anyone who challenged me, Miya, ADAM, it didn’t matter. I just wanted to skate.”

When was the last time he had talked this much? He glanced at Reki, looking for boredom, or exasperation, but he still was staring intently at Langa, completely focused.

“Um, yeah, so, that’s where I was at, and why I wanted to race and to race better skaters, and I kind of assumed you felt the same, so I didn’t really get it when you asked me not to skate with him, or when you said you were scared. Or… I guess… I kinda didn’t want to get it? I wanted to skate with you, and I wanted to skate with ADAM, and I just… ignored the things that got in the way. Which meant I… ignored you. And I’m sorry, Reki, I’m really sorry.”

He leaned forward, nearly overbalancing and tumbling off the desk, but Reki stood quickly and braced his other hand against Langa’s shoulder, stopping him from falling off completely. 

It put their faces close together, and Langa searched Reki’s face for any sign of how he was taking the apology. He was chewing his bottom lip, not meeting Langa’s eyes, instead of staring at his hand against Langa’s shoulder.

“I didn't understand what the beefs meant to you, so I probably could have been clearer when I asked you not to race ADAM. I… I don’t think I forgive you yet. I’m not… I never had a friend like you, and you just.. turned your back on me. I couldn’t keep up with you, or ADAM, or anyone at S. I can’t even beat Shadow. I’m just, the one who's not Langa. Who builds your boards, and cheers you on from the sidelines. Not someone who stands next to you.”

His fingers were curled into Langa’s shirt, and tears were starting to gather in his eyes, and Langa felt his heart lurch. Shit, he hated this. He stood up quickly and pulled Reki against him as he started to sob.

“I d-don’t want t-to be j-just your support.” Langa rubbed circles on Reki’s back and tried not to freak out. His experience with crying people was almost zero, and Reki crying was the worst.

“I don’t want that either, Reki. You do stand with me.”

Reki shook his head against Langa’s shoulder and kept crying.

“I’m serious, Reki. I didn’t get it until tonight when I saw you in the crowd. The tournament was empty, just like before with snowboarding, and I didn’t know why. It wasn’t until I saw you that I realized it wasn’t S or the beefs, It was always you, Reki. You’re what made me happy.”

They stayed like that for a whole, Reki crying, and Langa holding him, saying whatever soothing nonsense came into his head (lots of ‘there there’ and ‘it’s OK’s). Finally, Reki took a last shuddering breath and leaned back, rubbing his eyes.

“Sorry, I got snot on your shirt.” 

Langa reached behind him and grabbed a tissue from the box on the desk, handing it to Reki, who blew his nose.

“It’s fine. It’ll wash out.”

It was quiet for a second as both boys collected their thoughts. Finally, Langa spoke up.

“You know, I think, part of the standing next to each other thing should mean that I should work on supporting you better.”

Reki frowned. “Like, How?”

“Uh, well…” Langa hadn’t quite gotten that far. It had just seemed like a good thing to say. “Well… for starters, I’ll drop out of the tournament, at least.”

Reki looked shocked. “Really? But, you beat JOE. You’re doing so good.”

Langa shrugged. “Yeah, but as long as ADAM’s there I might skate against him, and that would break out promise. More than I’ve already broken it, that is. So I’ll drop out.”

“That… I don’t want to hold you back.”

“You’re not. It’s about my safety, right? Not holding me back. I get that.”

Reki nodded, face still a little guilty, but Langa could also see relief.

Langa moved back to climb on the desk. “We can talk more at school, OK?”

He started to slide down the ramp, but suddenly turned around, grabbing the window frame. “Oh! This means we’re dating now, right?”

Reki, who had been leaning over the desk, ready to close the window turned bright red.

“What! No! That’s not- I mean- we-”

“Really? But all that stuff about standing next to each other kinda made it seem-”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Langa's heart sank. “So you don’t want to date me?”

Reki rubbed his face. “I- I didn’t say that, but, I mean-”

Behind them Reki’s bedroom door flew open to reveal a frowning Tsukihi, her hair still mussed from sleep.

“If you guys don’t shut up I’m going to tell mom you were sneaking out.”

Reki whirled around. “If you do I’ll tell her you’ve been skipping out on history to hang out with your boyfriend.”

The siblings stared at each other for a tense minute, before Tsukihi finally let out an exasperated sigh.

“Whatever. Just keep it down. It’s the middle of the night. I can’t sleep over the sound of you arguing with  _ your _ boyfriend.”

Reki spluttered, nearly slipping off the desk as he sat back in shock.

“See? She thinks so too!” Lang said, triumphantly.

Tsukihi blinked, then started to grin. “Wait, you guys are actually dating now?”

“NO! No, we're not! Not yet, we’re just talking about it!”

“Not  _ yet _ , huh? But soon, right?”

Reki took a deep breath. “OK, no. I’m not doing this with you two, not three hours before we have to be up for school. You-” he pointed at Tsukihi, “Go to bed. And you-” he pointed at Langa, “Go home. We’ll talk about this at school tomorrow.”

Tsukihi shrugged and closed the door. Langa opened his mouth, feeling stubborn, but Reki put his hand on the top of his head and pushed, causing Langa to lose his grip and slide down to the bottom of the ramp.

The window started to close, then paused. “Goodnight, Langa.”

“… Night’ Reki.”

The window closed with a click and Langa rolled over so he was lying on his back in the street, looking up at the moon.

Overall, that had gone mostly well. It hurt to see Reki cry, but he did feel like they understood each other better now.

Langa stretched and clambered to his feet.

OK, tomorrow, they would sort out the rest.

\-----------------

Reki couldn’t sleep with so many thoughts swirling in his head. He couldn’t believe he’d cried in front of Langa. So embarrassing, but it had felt kinda nice, to be held like that. And Langa dropping out of the tournament was better than he had ever hoped. It almost hurt how relieved he was.

But the last part of the conversation was what his mind kept wandering back to. It was crazy. Reki liked girls. Sure, he’d thought about guys, too, but every one did that, right?

He rolled over, trying to will himself to sleep. They were going to talk tomorrow, and he needed to get some sleep before that conversation.

He didn’t sleep. No one in the Kyan household was a coffee drinker, so he settled for gulping down an extra cup of tea before packing his lunch into his backpack.

He was sitting in the entryway, lacing his shoes when Tsukihi came up behind him.

“Move. I need my shoes.”

He scooted to the side and she started slipping her shoes on. “This is early for you.”

She shrugged. “I have club things to do.”

They walked out at the same time. Reki still wasn’t skating, so they headed down the street together.

“So… you and Langa, huh.”

Reki stumbled, caught himself on a low garden wall before turning to glare at his sister.

“Not necessarily. Why aren’t you more surprised, anyway?”

Tsukihi yawned. “Well, you two weren’t exactly subtle. Even mom knows something up. I saw her reading a website about how to support your LGBTQ teen on her phone the other day.”

“But-! That’s not-! We're just friends.”

Tsukihi grinned at him. “Oh yeah? What about the thing where you lie with your head in his lap to read magazines, or how you always lean against each other when you sit together, or the times you both fell asleep on your bed?”

“That- That’s just friend stuff! It’s all platonic!”

“Oh yeah? And when he raises his hands above his head and his shirt hikes up, do you platonically check out his v-line too?”

Reki felt himself turning red again. “That’s- I mean- I’m straight!”

She hummed thoughtfully. “You remember when you were five and you told everyone how you were going to marry Hiro when you grew up?”

“That was just kid stuff. I didn’t really understand what it meant. How do you know about that, anyway? You would have been two.”

“Are you kidding? It’s one of Mom’s favorite stories.”

“I also said I wanted to marry Sawako in my second-grade class.”

“So? You can like both.”

Really? That threw him. It wasn’t like he’d never heard of bisexuality, but he had never really thought about it as relating to himself.

He was still lost in thought when they reached the corner where Tsukihi split off. “Just keep an open mind, nii-chan,” she said with a wave.

He waved back, still feeling lost.

Lang was waiting at the next corner, looking a little strange without his board. But when he saw Reki he grinned brightly and rushed forward. “Morning Reki!”

“Morning.” he tentatively held out his hand, and Langa smiled even wider as they high-fived.

They started walking to school, directly for once since neither of them had their skateboards. Reki still felt like he was untethered, not entirely sure what was going to happen next, but Langa seemed overjoyed. He was practically skipping next to Reki and every time they caught eyes he would give Reki a wide grin.

Reki smiled back. He still felt unsure of his place in Langa’s life and his skateboarding, but he couldn’t deny that he was really happy to be walking to school together again.

Morning classes were painful, though Reki did manage to catch a quick nap behind his textbook in English.

Finally, they were heading up to the roof for lunch. It was overcast, gray clouds blowing across the sky, so the roof was almost deserted. Besides Reki and Langa there was a small group of girls clustered together, and they didn’t spare a glance for the two boys as they settled into their usual spot by the edge.

They settled in, Langa unwrapping his sandwich and Reki opening up his bento box. They ate in silence for a few minutes, Langa staring off into space, and Reki squirming, wondering where he was supposed to start.

Finally, Langa spoke up. “I quit the tournament.”

Reki looked up from where he was picking apart a cherry tomato. “Really? Just like that?”

“I guess. I texted JOE and he said he would take care of it.”

“Huh.” Reki continued to pick at his lunch. “He wasn’t mad, or anything, was he?” Dropping out right after beating JOE might look bad, not that JOE ever seemed particularly concerned about his image.

Langa shrugged, taking a swig of milk. “Didn’t seem like it. He also sent a bunch of thumbs up emojis, so I think it’s cool.”

Reki shoved the mangled tomato into his mouth. He was relieved, really relieved. He still had the nightmare about Langa racing ADAM, his lifeless eyes crashing down onto the hard asphalt, and he felt sure Langa wouldn’t get out the second time without a trip to the ER.

“You know, I think ADAM might have been a little weird, anyway.”

Reki choked on a mouthful of rice. “What, did you not realize?”

Langa was fishing in his plastic bag for a second sandwich. “Yeah. Like, last night, while I was looking for you, he was on that big screen and he called me his EVE. Like, Adam and Eve? Kinda creepy.” He pulled out a second sandwich and started unwrapping it. “He also injured Cherry pretty bad during their beef.”

“Did you really not know how creepy he’s been about you this whole time? He’s like, obsessed with you. Also what happened to Cherry?”

“I guess not. He kinda talked a lot so I usually just tuned him out. And, yeah, he got off his skateboard and just swung it at Cherry’s face while he was going full speed. JOE had to take him to the hospital.”

“Fuck.” That helped get rid of the last of Reki’s guilt. He would do anything to make sure Langa didn’t end up racing that asshole. Hopefully Cherry was OK. He kinda wanted to text JOE, who had given Reki his number after their trip to the Miyakojima, but it still felt weird bothering one of the founders of S.

“Can… Can you ask JOE if Cherry’s OK?”

Langa pulled out his phone, still holding his sandwich in his right hand while texting with his left. Reki leaned over and saw that he had typed ‘Reki wants to know if Cherry’s OK.’

“No! Don’t say-” but Langa had already hit send. 

He looked confused. “Don’t say what?”

The phone chimed and they looked down.

JOE: He could text me himself LOL

JOE: But I’m glad you two made up

JOE: Cherry’s got pretty chewed up, but he’s out of the hospital. Can’t work with his arm broken, so he’s camped out at my restaurant whining about evaasfl-

JOE: This is Cherry. I’m fine Reki, thank you for your concern.

Reki let out a sigh of relief. Sounds like they were the same as ever.

Suddenly, Reki realized his face was right next to Langa’s. His conversation with Tsukihi that morning came back to him, and he found himself suddenly hyper-aware of every inch of skin that was pressed against his best friend.

“Uh, um, well that’s good.” he leaned back quickly, but he could feel his cheeks already getting red.

Langa looked after him for a second before pocketing his phone and going back to his sandwich.

They ate in silence for a while, and Reki was starting to think that he could get away with avoiding his conversation for another day when Langa spoke up.

“So, what about the dating thing?”

Reki chewed slowly, trying to extend the time before he had to answer. “I guess, I’m not really sure. I’ve never really considered dating a guy before.”

Langa gave him a strange look. “Really? I see you checking guys out all the time.”

“Well, I guess. But everyone does that, right? Like, thinking about guys and girls?” He was feeling a little desperate. Tsukihi’s words from this morning came back to him, and he shook his head. He had to be straight. He would know if he wasn’t.

“No. I don’t do that.” Langa shoved the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth and pulled a melon bread out of his bag, popping open the packaging.

“Really? You don’t think about guys?”

“I don’t think about girls.”

Reki froze with a bite of rice halfway to his mouth. “Like, ever?”

“Not really. I might have once or twice just to see, but it didn’t really do anything for me. That’s how I knew I was gay.”

Reki finally ate the rice, chewing slowly. Finally, he said, “You never told me you were gay.”

Langa squirmed guiltily. “Oh, yeah. I guess that’s a thing I do.”

“What?”

“Well, my mom didn’t know either. She was kind of shocked, but mostly because I’d known for so long and never mentioned it.”

“Were you worried about her reaction?”

“Not really.” Langa finished his melon bread and searched through his bag once more, but nothing was left except wrappers. He took a sip of milk instead. “One of my aunts is gay and she's always been fine with her. I guess it just never came up, but I just assumed she knew, so we were both kind of surprised.”

“That sounds like you.” Reki could picture Langa completely forgetting to mention something so big, and then being surprised no one else knew.

But still, the idea of dating a guy felt totally foreign to him. Any time he’d thought about dating someone it had been a girl, and he wasn’t even sure how that was supposed to work. Dating guys must have a different set of rules.

“How does it work?” Langa cocked his head in confusion, so Reki clarified. “You know, two guys dating.”

“Oh.” Langa frowned. “I mean, I guess it would be a lot like what we do now. You know, spend time together, go out to eat, go skating, but we would, like, also hold hands and kiss and stuff.”

He took another swig of milk while Reki’s mind reeled.  _ Kissing. _ Of course, there would be kissing. Why had that not occurred to him that there would be kissing?

“I’ve never really thought about kissing guys.”

Reki carefully put the lid back on his empty bento, not looking up at Langa as he set it aside. His cheeks were warm, and Reki hoped his blush wasn’t too obvious.

“Well, I guess there’s a pretty easy way to test this.” Langa set his milk aside, then turned his body toward Reki, placing one hand on either side of his crossed legs and bringing his face within a few inches of Reki’s.

It felt like Reki’s face was on fire. He was definitely blushing now. He swallowed nervously, and Langa spoke again, softer now that he was so close. “Do you want to kiss me?”

Reki heart was beating in his throat, and while the idea still felt strange to him, he also found that he did really want to find out how it felt to have Langa’s lips on his. He nodded.

Langa grinned, bright and happy in a way that Reki selfishly hoped was reserved for him. He leaned closer and pressed their lips together.

It was awkward, too much teeth, but nice. Almost hard to focus on his mouth while his heart tried to pound out of his chest, but as he adjusted he raised a hand to rest it on Langa’s arm, starting to kiss back.

Suddenly a wolf whistle came from the other side of the roof and they jerked apart. The girls Reki had completely forgotten about were now watching them, giggling. One of them winked at Reki and he buried her face in his hand.

“Ah, sorry.” Langa sounded guilty. “This probably wasn’t a great time for that.”

Once he calmed down. Reki looked up. The girls had gone back to talking among themselves, seemingly unconcerned with Langa and Reki. Langa wasn’t looking at him, instead of staring at his fingers entwined in his lap, two high spots of color on his cheeks.

Reki reached out carefully and took one of Langa’s hands, moving it so it was hidden in between their bodies.

“I think, I liked that.”

Langa smiled, looking hopeful. “So we’re dating now?”

Reki shrugged, “Yeah, we’re dating.”

Langa squeezed his hand and bumped Reki with his shoulder. Reki bumped him back, smiling softly.

**Author's Note:**

> That's all, folks.
> 
> Just couldn't deal with the 2 week gap so made my own show. I might come back to this and make some other little one shots. A story about Cherry lurking in JOE's restaurant being a problem, and JOE pretending he doesn't want him there. Also a follow up to ADAM's reaction to Langa dropping out of the tournament that would involve an exciting skateboard chase which would be practice for writing action.
> 
> Or not. I'm 30k into a long, kinda serious renga fic that I'm determined to finish, but if I take a break from that then maybe.
> 
> Thanks for reading <3.


End file.
